The History About The Modern Library Services

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

In today’s circumstances where information plays a crucial role in every sphere of day to day life irrespective of subjects and profession , Libraries and information centers have an important task to play. There are various types of libraries like academic, corporate, special library or research library. In recent development, the Intranet has become a common technology in most business, organizations and institutions. It is based upon internet technology, in particular World Wide Web (WWW), to build information systems within organization or enterprise to accomplish standardization and automation. In Libraries also Intranet can facilitate so many services. It helps in dissemination of stored information as well as allows to access to remote information. Through Intranet, libraries can discharge the required information to its users in less time, with high effectiveness.

Library Services

â–ºCirculation of documents.

â–ºReferences services.

â–ºInternet Browsing.

â–º Web Opac

â–º e- Resources

â–º Digital Library Services.

â–º Book Bank

â–ºPhotocopy services

â–ºPrintouts.

â–ºCurrent awareness services

â–ºBibliography service

â–ºBroadcasting of news

â–ºInternet/Online database searching

â–ºSeparate reading room facility

â–ºE-books

â–ºE-journals.

â–º.Use of CDs, DVDs and VCDs

â–ºResource Sharing

Library Services through Intranet

The Intranet is perhaps our best opportunity to talk to the rest of our corporate, and provides the information center with a valuable and effective tool for the dissemination of information. As in other organizations, the primary benefit of an Intranet in a library is the facilitation of information sharing The Intranet is also used for following library services.

New Arrivals: Newly arrived books list is prepared and displayed on intranet. We can also prepare the list based on particular subject and it can be shared with specific project team or department members.

Announcements: Library special events like book exhibition, book talk, Library week, Librarians Day & Copy rights day etc are can be announce through Intranet.

Training or Orientation: Through Intranet we can provide library induction or training for new joiners/existing users using videos in electronic format as CD-ROMS or DVD’s, Power point presentations (PPT) etc.

User satisfaction survey: Its also an important tool to get feedback from employees on library sources and services.

Search facility: Search engines and other software familiar from the web can be used on the internal networks and locate the various versions of a given document. There is considerable potential for the library and information services to be involved in the developing the use of the engines, as well as, supporting the management of the version of a document is located when search terms are entered..

Current content alert: A table of contents of the scholarly journals/ magazines available in the library is prepared and published usually weekly or monthly. It assists users in keeping abreast of the most recently published literature in their areas of interest or specialization.

Issue & renewal: users can issue or renew the books without visiting the library.

OPAC: With the help of OPAC ( Online Public Access Catalogue) employees can access the bibliographic details of library resources at compiters with in the library, or from home.

Collection development: Generally it can be done in following three steps.1.Recommendation to library 2.Approval & 3.Ordering.

News alerts: Project specific or domain specific news bulletin are compiled using Internet, resources and it can be communicated periodically with in specific user group.It helps users in keeping abreast of the most recently happenings in their areas of interest or specialization. It can be also call this service as E-SDI ( Electronic- Selective Dissemination of Information ) service.

Overdue reminders: With the help of Intranet, Librarians can send reminder to overdue book holder through Intranet e-mail.

Handling queries & downloads: With the use of intranet librarian can provide answer for user queries. And also requested articles are downloaded or scanned ( if hard copy available) from the available library resources ( E-journals, databases etc.) and send it through mail.

Resources sharing: Library resources like books, articles, reports, standards etc. can be shared with remote users or libraries through mail. While sharing the resources librarian should be aware of copy right policy.

Marketing of Library sources & services: Few marketing strategies are Displaying advertisements or posters of library resources & servicers on intranet. Online induction or Orientation program, while announcing library special events, Actual demonstration in the library, Time to time reminders to users, Marketing through intranet site as well as internet site wherever appropriate.

Application of Modern Techniques in Library Services:

The main aim is to cater all types of information needs of users in view of present and anticipating needs. Or this, Library has implemented/introduced for new projects. These are as follows:

1. Digital Library

2. Podcasting Library

3. Library Blog

4. Virtual Tour of Library

5. RSS Feeds in News broadcasting

6. Visitors Log System

1.Digital Library: Digital Library has been created by open source digital library software i.e." Dspace". This software is useful to capture, store, index, preserve and redistributes the intellectual information to the users in a digital format. These documents are used as a primary source of contents for Digital Library. These documents are preserved for the future reference.

2.Podcasting Library: Podcasting is the latest added feature for which the open source software Audacity ( http://audacity.sourceforge.net/) is used. For testing purpose, small audio files for FAQs were prepared and rested with the help of students. The podcasts are used at present at intranet only. The technology is used for recording special lectures, convocation, speeches, seminar proceedings etc. with prior permission from concerned speakers and are made available to library users through intranet.

3.Library Blog: This is introduced a year ago for informing outside users the latest developments. There is wide scope for experimentation such as added latest insurance related news, virtual tour, etc for making it more interesting and user friendly.

4.Virtual Tour of Library on Intranet/ Internet: For new users a virtual tour is created using front page with lots of pictures showing directions and various facilities, collections etc to make them aware about library setup.

5.Use of RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Feeds in News broadcasting services: With the help of RSS feeds from various news papers websites and other important insurance related websites news are collected in RSS reader which is available freely on Internet. A power Point Presentation is prepared with titles and original sources along with complete news in PDF format. This is broadcasted various places in campus. Simultaneously it is made available on intranet page. This is modern way of doing newspaper clippings. Due to RSS feeds preparing the news headlines is very fast, up-to- date and yet simple mechanism. The RSS Readers are freely available on internet.

6.Visitors Log Systems: Earlier in libraries register was used to keep the track of the users entering in the library. For same purpose, a simple computer programme is prepared where users have to log in with their names, IDs while entering and while leaving they have to select their names and exits. A provision is also made for a small questionnaire to fill up while exit for additional information as follows but it is not mandatory: a. whether they have satisfied with the service. Any suggestions/remarks. C. Purpose of library visit like issue/return of documents, reference, periodicals browsing etc.

Used of Latest Technology of library & Information Services in Digital Environment:

The application and utilization of computer comes automatically, because the computer is the basic element of the digital environment. With the Computer technology, now the library professionals do their work digitally and the users are also searching their information digitally. The library documents are now available digitally both in online as well as offline forms, which make it easier both for the library staffs and the users working their job digitally. For shifting from the traditional "printed books environment" to the "digital environment" the library system should reengineered. Already in the discussion about the characteristics, but to include new methods and technologies to the existing system to revamp it.

Some new methods and technologies for using at the time of re-engineering the library and information services in digital environment are below:

Web 2.0:

It is associated with web applications that facilitate interactive information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design, and collaboration on the World Wide Web. A Web 2.0 site gives its users the free choice to interact or collaborate with each other in a social media dialogue as creator of user-generated content in a virtual community, in contrast to website where users are limited to the passive viewing of content that was created for them. Examples, Social Networking Sites, Blogs, Wikis, Video-sharing Sites, Hosted Services, Web application, Mashups and Folksonomies.

Library 2.0:

The term library 2.0, first coined by Michael Casey in 2006 on his blog Library Crunch, refers to a number of social and technological changes that are having impact upon libraries, its staff and their clientele, and how they could interact. It is a model for modernized form of library services that reflects a transition within the library world in the way services are delivered to users. The focus is on user-centered change and participation in the creation of content and community.

The application of concepts and technologies of Web 2.0 applied to the library services to meet the present day use’s needs and expectations. Some of the core concepts in Library 2.0 are:

● Services would be made available at the point of need rather than making the users come to the services. Reach out the users and provide library services in a wide variety of services beyond the library, such as portal, Virtual learning environments, and e-commerce systems.

● Allow data to be exposed discovered and manipulated in a variety of ways in distance from for access to users.

● Develop the applications that can be easy to use, flexible, intelligent, and responsive to user needs.

● Facilitate communication, community and user participation. Focused on the user and user’s needs.

Digital Library

A digital library is an assemblage of digital computing, storage, and communication machinery together with the content and software needed to reproduce, emulate and extend the services provided bu conventional libraries based on paper and other material means of collecting, cataloguing, finding and disseminating information. A full service digital librarymust accomplish all essential service of traditional libraries and also exploits the well-known advantage of digital storage, searching and communication. It provides access to part of or all its collections, such as plain texts, images, graphs, audio/ video materials and other library items that have been electronically converted, via the intranet and World Wide Web.

Tagging:

It is another Web 2.0 application which is extensively used in library community is called tagging. Tagging is described as the process by which the resources in a collection are assigned tags in the form of words, phrases, codes or other strings of characters. This allows users to add and change the data and metadata and at times give a local flavor to the data and metadata. The Advantage of user tax is that it helps the data to be more easily searchable. The examples are Flicker, Del.icio.us.

Instant Massaging Reference Service:

It is one of the real- time electronic consulting and reference offered by academics libraries via specific software running on the Internet platform .It is virtually instantaneous communication between two or more people using textual format, providing "real time reference" services, where patrons can synchronously communicate with librarians mush as they would in a face to face reference context. The software often allow co-browsing, file sharing, screen capturiong and data sharing and mining of previous transcripts. Libraries are already offering live reference service using 24*7*365 in a collaborative fashion.

Wiki’s:

A wiki is a website that uses wiki software, allowing the easy creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages, using a simplified markup language. Wikis are often used to create collaborative websites, to power community websites and for note making.

Blog:

A blog is a website, usually maintained by an individual, with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video.

Library Digitization:

Library digitization is the process of utilizing computers, databases, multimedia equipment, networks, video equipment and web technologies to electronically collect, classify, copy, compress, scan, store and transform conventional library information resources. Library digitization is different from a digital library as it focuses on the process of making diverse library information resources electronically available, while a digital library is a platform for accessing, collecting, managing, searching and storing distributed digitized information resources over the Internet and WWW. Thus, to provide access to these digitalized library collections, libraries need to set up and implement digital library projects which provide digitalized resources, network access and distribution management via network technology.

Social networking:

A social networking service is an online service, platform, or site that focuses on buildings and reflecting of social networks or social relations among people, e.g. who share interests and/or activities. Social networking sites allow users to share ideas, activities, events, and interests with in their individual networks. Popular methods now combine many of these, with Face book and twitter, Hi5, widely used worldwide. Flicker, Twitter, Face book, LinkedIn and Orkut are very popular in India.

You-Tube:

YouTube is a website to upload and shared videos. On which users can discover, watch, upload, and share videos. There is a wide variety of user-generated video content, including movie clips, TV clips, and music videos, as well as amateur content such as video blogging and short original videos. Librarians, student of library and information services well as users can understand the library and library techniques by watching the videos.

List serve

It is an email based technology by this at a time simultaneously can send their new arrivals list, news paper clipping, TOC of Journals, to serve the users on a single click only.

Web OPAC:

Web OPAC (Online Public Access Catalogue) is the accessing, retrieving and using the learning resources of the library. Through Web-OPAC the documents can be searched by author/s & editors, any word/s from the title or subjects heading/s. User friendly (and menu driven) help screens of the OPAC retrieval software help the user/s make search/es with ease and promptness.

RSS:

RSS nothing but a coding of text in the XML form which allows users to fix the preferences and with the help of subscription collect and gather the content from the web feed on regular intervals like hourly, daily, weekly etc. Application of RSS feeds in the Library services are:

●RSS Book list

●RSS table of content

●RSS Feeds to improve Reference Services.

● New additions to the online catalog.

● New programs and events posted on the library website.

● Library’s electronic newsletter.

●Press releases and other media advisories.

● Library closings, including emergency closings.

● Library job openings.

Virtual reality:

Virtual reality has been defined as "a recent development n computer science that promises a new form of human-computer interaction".

Impact of virtual reality on Libraries:

Virtual library: as the place from where there will be access to universal knowledge from the workplace, no matter what the workplace is.

Sometimes VL referred as Library without walls.

VL creates its own tools such as: e-text databases, OPAC, e-mail, connection with libraries all around the world, queries to local and external databases, and access to the internet.

RFID:

Radio Frequency Identification device (RFID) is one of today’s most exciting and fastest growing technologies for increasing efficiencies, improving profitability and an important area of study in today’s information environment.

Use of RFID in Library Services:

● It has the capability for multiple applications.

●It provides effective and efficient library detection system.

●It has provided full autonomy to users in library transactions. They can issue and return the books as a7 when they need irrespective of the availability of staff.

●It has improved users satisfaction.

●It has enhanced the security level of collections.

●It has removed various repetitive work carried out by the staff.

●It has enabled us to update the databases in real time environment.

●It has enabled self check in/ checkout System.

●It has faster circulation transactions.

● Perfect tracker.

●Simplified self-charging/ discharging.

●Highly reliable

● Highly reliable.

● High speed inventorying.

● automated identification of materials

● Better than barcode.

E-reference services:

In distance education and learning E reference services is playing an important role. Increasingly distance education is utilizing e-mail and web-based facilities to deliver teaching material and provide interactive tutorial support across the internet in both the industrialized and developing world. Library services now include databases, and online access to the full text of electronic journals or specially digitized book chapters. Now libraries are engaged with in order to best serve of distance learners.

Electronic reference, e-reference, services are Internet-based question and answer services that connect users with experts in the information sources in a variety of subjects areas through web forms and/ or e-mail. E-reference can be interpreted to cover support via direct contact with reference librarian through e-mail, telephone, video-conferencing, and dedicated pages on the World Wide Web.

SMS Alerts Services:

It provides CAS & SDI services by e-mail or SMS Alerts Services: In the present environment every library should adopt these techniques for users, provide Current awareness services like TOC of journals, newspaper clipplings, and new arrival list etc.should send the user as per their requirement or frequent intervals by usings email or SMS alerts services. Through users can aware or upto date by getting this kind of services.

Institutional Repository:

An Institutional Repository is an online locus for collecting , preserving, and disseminating-in digital form- the intellectual output of an institution, particularly a research institution.

The four main objectives are:

● To provide open access to institutional research output by self-archiving it.

●To create global visibility for an institutions scholarly research.

●To collect content in a single location.

● To store and preserve other institutional digital assets, including unpublished or otherwise easily lost ("grey") literature.

Non-Print Material:

In this digital environment every library wants to rich not only in printed material product and services but also in non print material product and services like:

● CDs, DVDs, Microfilms etc

● Online-Books, Online Journals.

●Online Databases.

● E-references sources.

Membership with e-consortia: Technology is a driving force in the contemporary education systems. Successful implementation of high-tech programmes like INDEST and UGC-INFONET consortia resources will really get further strengthened and campus wide reach with the adoption of cabled network and wireless technologies.

Advantages of using Modern techniques:

There are many benefits for Library, which are as follows.

1. These applications are user friendly.

2. Smooth functioning of services ( For eg. News broadcasting)

3. Useful for image building for library amongst users.

4. All applications used are free as these are either open source software or in-house created.

5. It gives creative satisfaction to library staff.

CONCLUSION

Librarians serve as both social and knowledge intermediaries every day. Technological developments have affected not only the format and sources of the information libraries use to provide reference service, but also where we provide reference service. Libraries and their resources have partially moved to the virtual world of the Internet. Virtual reference is reference service initiated electronically, often in real-time, where patrons employ computers or other Internet technology.

The Intranet has certainly revolutionized the information management process in the libraries. It has distinct advantage over LAN, has helped in faster data collection and dissemination. It is indeed a challenge to the library professional not only to accept and assimilate this new technology, but also to spice it up with the classical knowledge to further improve the entire information management processes in the libraries. Intranets are relatively cheap and easy to develop because they use the existing technology of the internet. The value of intranet is that it can integrate in one central source a combination of internal, external, formal and informal information.